By MCN Editor editor@moviecitynews.com

18th CHICAGO UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES: 2011 JURY AND AUDIENCE AWARDS

Posted Tuesday, June 7th, 2011 - Comments Off on 18th CHICAGO UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES: 2011 JURY AND AUDIENCE AWARDS
Be Sociable, Share!

(June 6, 2011) – The 18th Chicago Underground Film Festival (CUFF), presented by IFP /Chicago, kicked off on Thursday, June 2, showcasing a savvy program of film and video exploring the many definitions and interpretations of the ‘underground’ concept. All films were screened at the Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 North State Street. The winners for this year’s festival were announced on Sunday, June 5 at a heavy metal after-party upstairs at Delilah’s.

Each year, CUFF reveals a unique programming niche of films that ignore limitations of genre and are made with passion and drive. Audiences this year were again captivated by an array of films that included sixteen different programs of narrative, documentary and experimental film and video, question and answer sessions with many of the featured filmmakers, and a journey into the world of underground film.

Competitions were held in a variety of categories determined by the festival jury and winners were presented with handmade art pieces designed by Chicago artist Luke Breckon.

This year’s Audience Award, as chosen by festival attendees, was awarded to “Some Girls Never Learn” (USA) directed by Jerzy Rose. The film was also awarded the festival’s “Made in Chicago” award by the jury. Rose also won the “Made In Chicago” in 2008 for his short film “The Universe and Young Pilot Nelson” and a best narrative short film award in 2009 for “All Ghost Women Play The Theremin”

The jury award winners:

Best Documentary (feature) And Again – Adele Horne

Best Documentary (short) History Minor – Ryan Garrett

Best Experimental: Home Movie – John Price

Best Experimental: Slow Action – Ben Rivers

Best Narrative (feature): The Color Wheel – Alex Ross Perry

Best Narrative (feature): Snow on tha Bluff – Damon Russell

Honorable Mentions:
Young Bird Season – Nellie Kluz

Second Law: South Leh St. – Mike Gibisser

Chainsaw Found Jesus – Spencer Parsons

Devil’s Gate – Laura Kraning

The 2011 Chicago Underground Film Festival Jury:

Donald Harrison is Executive Director of the Ann Arbor Film Festival, the longest-running independent and experimental film festival in North America. During his tenure he has expanded the AAFF traveling tour, launched the festival’s DVD collections of short films, hosted more than 100 screenings and reviewed thousands of works under consideration. Prior to joining the AAFF in 2006, Donald worked for several years at the Film Arts Foundation in San Francisco where he also studied documentary and experimental film. He currently serves on the boards of the Michigan Theater and Arts Alliance in Ann Arbor and the advisory board for the Aurora Picture Show in Houston, TX. Donald was raised to be a professional bowler and most recently carried a 219 league average.

Chinese-born media artist Chi Jang Yin is known for her conceptual, documentary work, which comments upon the state of Chinese culture, past and present. She often imbues her work with elements from her background in photography and performance art. She received her BA and her MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2000. Her videos were recently awarded: Honorable Mention at the In-Out Festival, Poland; Best Film on Architecture at the Asolo Art Film Festival, Italy; and Second Grand Prize at the Athens International Film Festival, Ohio. Her work has screened at the 2008 Asian Art Biennial at the Taiwan National Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, the Los Angeles Film Festival, and the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA).

Ignatiy Vishnevetsky is one of the co-hosts for Ebert’s At The Movies, a critic and essayist for MUBI.com, co-founder of the acclaimed Cine-File.info, and a contributor to the Chicago Reader. Prior to becoming a film critic, Ignatiy worked as a translator for Novoe Literaturnoe Obozrenie, Russia’s premier literary journal. Born in the Soviet Union, Ignatiy moved to America when he was eight and soon moved to Chicago “because I could find more films to see here.” Ignatiy helps program the current Cine-File Selects series at the University of Chicago’s Doc Films, the nation’s oldest film society. He also co-manages the Odd Obsession underground and alternative video store.

Irvine Welsh is an acclaimed and often controversial writer of novels, stories and stage and screenplays.  His book Trainspotting was made into a 1996 film of the same name directed by Danny Boyle which was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award and an Oscar.  Welsh comes from Edinburgh, Scotland, and lives with his American wife Elizabeth, mainly in Chicago, IL and Miami, FL. He travels a great deal and his hobbies include socialising and sporting activities.

About CUFF
 Since 1994, the Chicago Underground Film Festival has presented the finest in new underground, experimental and documentary film and video. In 2008 the festival entered into a partnership with IFP/Chicago and in 2009 the festival moved to the state of the art Gene Siskel Film Center.  Our mission is to promote films and videos that dissent radically in form, technique, or content from the ‘indie’ mainstream and to present adventurous works that challenge and transcend commercial and audience expectations.

Programming highlights in years past have included premieres of American Radical: The Trials of Norman Finkelstein, It Came From Kuchar!, Nice Bombs, Danielson: A Family Movie, Oscar-nominated documentary The Weather Underground, Monks – The Transatlantic Feedback, Blood Car, and more.  Additionally, numerous CUFF films have gone on to receive theatrical distribution.

For more information visit www.cuff.org

About IFP/Chicago

IFP/Chicago is a non-profit organization committed to the idea that independent film is an important art form and a powerful voice in our society. We provide resources, information and avenues of communication for independent filmmakers, industry professionals and independent film enthusiasts. We encourage quality and diversity in independent production and assist filmmakers at all levels of experience in realizing their unique vision.

About the Gene Siskel Film Center, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago

The Gene Siskel Film Center of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago celebrates 39 years of presenting cutting edge programs, independent and international cinema, premieres, retrospectives, and classic films. Internationally recognized for its original film programming, the Film Center is a vibrant cultural destination in Chicago that attracts a diverse and creative annual audience of over 81,000.

A leader in educating artists and designers for 144 years, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago offers undergraduate and graduate programs to nearly 2,800 students from around the world. In addition to the time-honored study of painting, sculpture, printmaking, and design, SAIC’s studio programs embrace film and new media, electronic and sound arts, and creative writing. To complement its studio programs, SAIC offers academic degrees in disciplines from art history to arts administration, visual and critical studies to historic preservation. Located in the heart of Chicago, the School promotes contemporary discourse about art and design through venues such as the Gene Siskel Film Center, Video Data Bank, Betty Rymer Gallery, Gallery 2, the Division of Studies, and in conjunction with the Poetry Center.

###

Be Sociable, Share!

Posted in Movie City News, Press Releases | Comments Off on 18th CHICAGO UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES: 2011 JURY AND AUDIENCE AWARDS

Comments are closed.

Quote Unquotesee all »

It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?

So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.

And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.

There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.

I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.

So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.

But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”

My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher

“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.

~ David Simon